Name: American icon
ISBN: 9780307886071

American icon

At the end of 2008, Ford Motor Company was just months away from running out of cash. With the auto industry careening toward ruin, Congress offered all three Detroit automakers a bailout. General Motors and Chrysler grabbed the lifeline, but Ford decided to save itself. Under the leadership of charismatic CEO Alan Mulally, the man who had saved Boeing, Ford had put together a bold plan to unify its divided global operations, transform its lackluster product lineup, and overcome a dysfunctional culture of infighting, backstabbing, and excuses. It was an extraordinary risk, but it was the only way America's last great industrial dynasty could hold on to their company. Mulally and his team pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in business history, and this is the behind-the-scenes account of that epic turnaround.--From publisher description.

What Hacker News says

jmoak3Dec 2022

2022 was a great year for my reading (in order of my favorites):

The Great Demographic Reversal by Charles Goodhart - this book changed my life, but now that inflation and the retirements are in full swing it might be harder to make early moves on the knowledge. The graphs are also beginning to become outdated since the book was written in the end of 2019/early 2020? Either way, it inspired my decision to move closer to family.

The End of the World is Just the Beginning by Peter Zeihan - this book is well worth the read. Peter is a very educated and factual guy, and it's hard to disagree with the normalized vectors of change he is describing. The magnitude of these vectors however are up for much debate. Lots to think on, agree with, and disagree with.

American Icon by Bryce G. Hoffman - a book on Ford's handling of the 2008 crisis. It's got some flowery parts that idolize these men too much IMO but a great book on leadership and problem solving.

Lights Out - a book on how GE failed. If hypothetically American Icon was paid for to make Ford look good, Lights Out would have been paid for by disgruntled investors to burn that company's reputation to the ground. By some Wall Street Journal employees, this book is bonkers and a really frigid lesson about how incentives play out and a sober view of work in the real world.

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heymijoJul 2022

> In my opinion he was a net positive for the company

That opinion is well founded. In the book American Icon by Bryce Hoffman (Detroit News journalist) he chronicles that entire time period.

Mulally pulled off one of the greatest challenges, a bonafide turn around. They had a company culture that was all about individuals protecting their own interests. Mulally changed it to one where they focused on making vehicles people want and thinking about the long-term.

For example, Mulally held a weekly executive meeting and each head would give a color coded report of their domain's status (green for good, yellow for issues, red for caution). For weeks in this meeting every single executive reported their status as "green" for good. This in a fiscal quarter when Ford had a $6 billion loss! Mulally managed to change that culture, which for anyone who has work experience should speak very loudly.

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skwogOct 2018

Related reading is Cringely’s long history of writing about IBM

Blog: https://www.cringely.com/tag/ibm/

The Decline and Fall of IBM https://www.amazon.com/Decline-Fall-IBM-American-Icon/dp/099...

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legitsterMay 2017

I would recommend anyone read the book American Icon, which is about Ford's rise from the ashes in the 2000s. It's one of those thick reads, but well worth it.

It's sad to see them struggling, because their car lineup has been absolutely brilliant for the last few years. But now that the industry is at it's plateau, investors are very paranoid about any car company trying to invest in new areas (Ford spent much of it's earnings on tech companies). They would rather just see dividends instead.

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dsushantJan 2014

Company culture can definitely be changed, either by a handful of motivated team mates or by one effective leader. For an example of the latter approach, read this book: "American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company" by Bryce G. Hoffman.

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TimJYoungFeb 2018

Thanks, I suspected that this was the case after I read the Cringely book on IBM (https://www.amazon.com/Decline-Fall-IBM-American-Icon-ebook/...). It gives one the distinct impression that connections matter a lot, and that getting the contract matters more than actually completing it successfully.

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